The summer issue of The Timber Crier, the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association’s award-winning quarterly magazine, included a feature on the rebuilding of a dam on Cranberry Pond in Cheshire County, N.H. The dam was a project of the Timber Owners of New England (TONE), a closely held corporation that dates back to 1951, and its partner organization the Wildlife Conservation Trust.
The original dam was an earthen dam built in 1925 to create two warm water ponds, Upper Cranberry Pond (six acres) and Lower Cranberry Pond (13 acres). The ponds are separated by a low natural beaver dam. The earthen dam that needed replacing is the outflow of Lower Cranberry Pond. It consisted of boulders and earth, and in a couple spots it appeared that concrete had been poured in at some point to fill gaps in the dam. Another unique feature of this dam and pond system is the entire watershed covers TONE’s 3,450-acre property. The ponds this dam creates are an important recreational asset on the property. They support fishing, kayaking, swimming, and boating.
The feature article in the Summer Timber Crier detailed the project to rebuild the dam. However, there were some complications in the project after the article was published. Now, an informative new PowerPoint presentation describes the completed project, including several photographs showcasing the effort.
Click here to look at the 35-slide presentation.